Imam behind NYC mosque back in US after Gulf trip
Published: Sep 8, 2010 00:38 Updated: Sep 8, 2010 00:38
NEW YORK: An imam who has become the public face of a proposed Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero has returned to the United States following a State Department-funded tour of the Middle East, his wife said Tuesday.
Daisy Khan said her husband, Feisal Abdul Rauf, planned to comment later this week on plans for a $100 million center that have led to an increasingly vitriolic national debate over religious freedom and the sensitivities of Sept. 11 families. She said they would have no further comments until then.
Khan, who has been a supporter of the project and leads a Muslim nonprofit organization with her husband, said Rauf returned Sunday from a 15-day trip to promote religious tolerance in the Gulf. The trip, paid for by the US Department of State, began Aug. 19 in Bahrain and included visits to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
In Rauf’s last scheduled public appearance in Dubai on Aug. 31, he said the debate is over more than “a piece of real estate.” It had, he said, “expanded to Islam in America and what it means for America.”

Comments
IBRAHIM DAWOOD
Sep 8, 2010 20:10
Report abuseLook at Saudi arabia that does not allow the pracice of any other religion leave alone permitting the building for practice of other religions.
Hypocrisy is all we can expect from a nation that considerss itself the leader of Islam !
AHMED
Sep 9, 2010 01:04
Report abuseMAZ HASAN
Sep 9, 2010 01:29
Report abuseMore serious is the situation in Pakistan where the constitution guarantees protection & practice of other religions. State still does, but some people have different ideas. US masses are very tolerant , most agree for the relocation of the mosque at ground zero for obvious reasons.
BERTONOID
Sep 9, 2010 01:48
Report abuseIs not this another islamic hypocrisy?